Gay video game hero still a while off says Blood Dragon writer

Lucien Soulban, lead writer at Ubisoft Montreal and the man behind the story of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon believe it will still be a while before we see a game where the main protagonist is gay.

When asked in a Ubiblog Q&A about the possibility for a gay/lesbian main character in games Soulban also stressed that they need to be a serious character as well and not just in there for humorous purposes.

"Oh boy,” he began. “I think the real question is, when are going to get a gay/lesbian AAA hero(ine) who isn't a one-off joke? So when are we going to see that gay protagonist in a AAA game? Not for a while, I suspect, because of fears that it'll impact sales.”

He expanded his answer explaining that the first real gay/lesbian gam hero will probably be a surprise, "So either we'll see a bait-and-switch like the original Metroid with Samus Aran where we'll find out damn near after the fact (PS: And Dumbledore was gay), or it'll come out of left field with Rockstar, Valve, Naughty Dog or Telltale, perhaps. But when it happens, I hope it's a serious take on it and not played up for jokes."

He added that gay characters are slowly working their way into games especially with the options offered by BioWare and Bethesda in their games for the player to be gay/lesbian.

"We'll definitely see more of them,” he mused, “and I think it's happening quietly. Look at the choices offered in Mass Effect II & III, or Fable III, or Dragon Age II or Skyrim, the gay characters in Borderlands 2 who mention it without much fanfare, etc. Video games have stopped 'announcing' gay characters. They're introducing them without much fanfare in an effort to say, Yeah, it's there and pretty normal. Call it: We're here, we're queer, and we're busy working."